Thomas E. Lodge - The Everglades Handbook: Understanding the Ecosystem, Fourth Edition

The EVERGLADES HANDBOOK

Understanding the Ecosystem

FOURTH EDITION

Understanding the Ecosystem

FOURTH EDITION

Thomas E. Lodge

CRC Press

Taylor & Francis Group

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Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742

2017 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

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Printed on acid-free paper

Version Date: 20160826

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-4987-4290-0 (Hardback)

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Lodge, Thomas E., 1943

Title: The Everglades handbook : understanding the ecosystem / Thomas E.

Hodge.

Description: Fourth edition. | Boca Raton : CRC Press, 2017. | Includes

bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016021823 | ISBN 9781498742900 (alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Swamp ecology--Florida--Everglades. | Swamp

animals--Florida--Everglades. | Swamp plants--Florida--Everglades. |

Everglades (Fla.) | Ecosystem management--Florida--Everglades.

Classification: LCC QH105.F6 L63 2017 | DDC 577.69/80975939--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016021823

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To the memories of:

John C. Ogden

(November 18, 1938March 31, 2012)

When I had a tough Everglades question, my first inclination was to find Johns phone number. From wood storks to crocodiles and Everglades restoration, in the words of Bob Dylan, Roll on John.

Aaron L. Higer

(April 15, 1935October 23, 2015)

Through his distinguished history with USGS, Aaron gave direction and encouragement to countless Everglades scientists, including me, and never asked for credit.

Peter W. Harlem

(November 15, 1948March 15, 2016)

He generated the graphic details for the consequences of rising seas, giving those who keep their heads out of the sand the guidance for protecting our future.

John Arthur Marshall

(May 9, 1940March 28, 2016)

Appreciating the importance of his uncle Arts work, John carried the torch to new levels as an unrelenting advocate of movin the water south.

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As a child, the natural world and its creatures were a magnet for me. It probably appeared to many that success with a fishing rod was my focus. But fishing easily translated into a personal drive to sustain natural environments. In my view, successful hunting, fishing, bird watching, and witnessing the beauty of preserved wilderness are measures of a broader success.

In the late 1960s, I got my first chance to focus efforts on preserving and improving Floridas natural environments while working as an environmental advisor for Governor Claude Kirk, one of six governors I served. Initially, Governor Kirk had little concern for environmental matters, but did possess a keen sense for changing political and popular winds. Shown the ugly and deteriorating condition of the states natural waters, he became a champion for sewage treatment, siding with me in overruling and converting enormous opposition to the cost of protecting waters. With some easy convincing, Kirk was also converted to support the designation of Biscayne National Monument, the forerunner of that park. Support by the states governor was important to the federal effort.

While it seemed daunting at the time, the challenge of protecting the lions share of Big Cypress Swamp was manageable. The Big Cypress had minimal dependence on outside waters, thriving mostly on rainfall within its borders. And while landowners and development interests were powerful, they were overcome by a coalescence of former adversarieshunters, environmental advocates, and Native Americans. These efforts are summarized in the Big Cypress Swamp chapter of this book, and Im proud of the part I played as Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior in the formation of the Big Cypress National Preserve.

This brings us to the daunting Everglades. Water, its quality, timing, and distribution were key, and much of it came from outside its borders. Everglades National Park had been designated in 1947, but its needs were neglected in the following decades. Not only was there a perceived conflict between water for people and water for nature, but no one understood anything about the water requirements of the Everglades and the downstream National Park. In comparison with protecting other waters and lands in the state, the Everglades challenge was huge, much larger than its robust physical dimensions. To come up with a plan, it took a decade of focused science and a growing understanding of economic benefits including the power of tourist dollars. The urgency to restore the Everglades reached a high level in the 1990s, and with my reservations for its pumps and pipes, I supported the outcome that became CERP: the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. But its complexity, rising cost, and still emerging science (understanding the importance of water flow, of tree islands, and of the effects of pollutants, etc.), have dragged the effort across a changing pendulum of public and political support. We are now in the grips of a political environment favoring short-term benefits of land development with reduced encumbrances for which future generations will pay dearly in correcting the results of poor decisions. This environment has not been good for Everglades restoration. What is needed is a rekindling of forces that look to future benefits of smart decisions, an effort I now continue with The Everglades Foundation. That vision should benefit the Everglades but will likely require federal intervention.